This invention is directed to a toy which can be utilized as either a teaching toy or as an entertainment toy. The toy includes an indicia carrier having a plurality of indicia located thereon, and a series of cover members which can sequentially be moved from positions wherein they cover portions of the indicia to positions where they uncover these same portions.
A variety of teaching machines or teaching toys are known which utilize a long strip of paper having questions or other indicia located thereon, which is rolled around rollers and is located within a housing so as to expose only a portion of the paper roller at any one time. Questions and the like can be located on the paper roller with the object of the toy being for the child or other user to correctly guess the answer or otherwise identify the indicia exposed to view. These toys or teaching machines generally have some method for the child to ascertain whether or not a correct guess was made. This includes the flashing of lights on a correct answer, or the appearance of a marble or the like. While these machines certainly are of a utilitarian nature, they generally are of a sophistication level not directed to the preschooler.
With the large scale dissemination and utilization of digital computers, children are being exposed at a very early age to these computers. The computers, however, are even more sophisticated than the above noted teaching machines, and as such, are also unsuitable for use by a small child. Children are capable of extensive learning simply by mimicking older siblings or adults. In view of this, it is considered that there exists a need for a teaching machine which is capable of both giving a small child the impression of operating a computer and at the same time is unsophisticated enough for the small child to be able to operate the teaching machine or teaching toy by himself without adult supervision.